Defense Secretary Leon Panetta spoke to the sailors of the carrier USS John C. Stennis on Wednesday in Bremerton, Wash. He lauded their their service, but warned of the threats still out there:

We have threats of nuclear proliferation with countries like North Korea in the Pacific; Iran in the Middle East. We have turmoil in the Middle East, turmoil with Syria, turmoil elsewhere. We have threats now from Iran to tankers that travel from the Straits of Hormuz. And we have rising powers in the Pacific that raise challenges with regard to the international rules of freedom of navigation.

He goes out of his way to name North Korea, Syria and Iran (twice!).

But when he says

we have rising powers in the Pacific that raise challenges with regard to the international rules of freedom of navigation

…he doesn’t mention China, which is obviously the target of that description.